Lets Talk about my boys: Ryan 3.5 years old

My Ry-guy!  I don't write about him nearly enough, so I decided he needed a 3 and a half year update.  First off, this boy has a HUGE personality.  He is loud, and outgoing, and silly, and dramatic, and smart.  He literally amazes us every day in some way or another.  He walks through the grocery store saying hello to everyone we pass.  He tells a detailed story to a stranger in a waiting room.  He is Mr. Personality.

-  We have definitely entered the "Kids say the funniest things" phase.  Some recent examples are...
"Wow Mom, this is a beautiful street" while driving in his friends neighborhood
"I love this driveway, its so fancy" talking about a friends pavers driveway
"I really, really, so much love you mommy" he is a mush with the I love you's these days
"Oh man, is crap really a bad word??"  "What about goofy, is that a bad word" as he is trying to figure this bad word/good word thing out
"And then... suddenly..." he uses suddenly in his story telling now

-His imagination is in full force.  Every day he makes up new scenarios and stories.  He wakes up each day pretending he has a new person coming to spend the day with him.  Sometimes its his real friends, some times its one of my friends, it could be a TV or movie character, or it could be a total made up person.  But he will stick with that scenario for the entire day.  As he builds his legos or blocks or trains, he has stories to go with everything he makes.

-His memory is scary good.  If you mention something one time, he will hold you to it.  He also recalls the very small details or the most random things.  I love to pick his brain and see what he can tell me and how he can retell a story about something that has happened.

-We have been recording all of the old Disney movies on our DVR, so he goes through phases of loving all different movies... Peter Pan, Aladin, Tarzan.  Also Cars, Toy Story, and Finding Nemo.  This week his favorite is "How to Train Your Dragon".

-He is loving the beach and the pool this summer.  Daddy invested in some super soaker water guns, so that's the newest favorite toy.

-We have had a busy summer.  He went to gymnastics camp, Blue Claws games, Kite Night, beach Sundays, Breakwater Beach Water park, the boardwalk rides, weekend in Baltimore, lots of play dates.  We have definitely been making the most of any free time we get.

-Ryan is a great eater... like better than most toddlers I know.  The other night I was shocked when he ate my stuffed peppers (red and green peppers, onions, sausage, quinoa, diced tomatoes, garlic).  He ate every bite and asked for more.  I am lucky that with all of his eating restrictions, he is not a picky eater at all.

-He has hit another troublesome sleep phase.  His naps are getting shorter and he has a very hard time falling asleep at night.  Sometimes it can take him 2 hours to fall asleep at night, and then he wakes up early.  I'm thinking its part of the eventual switch to no nap.  If he takes a good nap, he can't fall asleep at night but if he doesn't nap he is miserable by like 3pm.  So I"ll take the late sleeping if it means he will nap and be happier over all.

-I'll save the allergy, sensory, hyper activity updates for another day.  I want this to be about the fun things he does, not the stresses.

-He is a very proud big brother.  He likes to make Patrick laugh, and show him how to play with toys.  They are cute together right now.

I'm sure I could go on and on, but that's whats coming to mind right now.

And here is my big boy-

Lets talk about my boys: Patrick 7 months

I'm super late on this one, Patrick hit the 7 month mark 2.5 weeks ago.  But I'm gonna write this post as if he just turned 7 months, not current as he is now.  You know in baby world, things change over a 2 week period.

So that being said.... Happy 7 month birthday my boy!

Some details of this month and then on to the cute pictures.

-We don't have a check up until he is 9 months, so I don't have any accurate weight and height info.
-He is just now transitioning into 6-9 month clothes and size 3 diapers.
-I am very proud that as of just a few days before his 7 month mark, he was still exclusively breastfed.
-He is enjoying 1 meal a day, so far he has tried peas, bananas, sweet potatoes, and carrots.
-He is sitting 100% on his own.  Its nice to be able to put him down so he can sit and play with the toys around him.
-He has learned a great (very loud) screeching noise.  Its his way to ask for food, get my attention, or just remind everyone he is in the room.
-He is still on an eating every 3 hour schedule, can't seem to stretch to that 4th hour yet.
-He is loving the beach, the bath tub, taking walks, watching Mickey Mouse with his brother, and putting toys in his mouth.
-Lets not talk about sleep.  Its ugly.  Both naps and overnight.  We did give in and hire the through email sleep consultant because we are desperate for some help.
-He had a great first vacation to Baltimore.  He was so good!  He loved just hanging out in the stroller or in my ergo carrier.  He stayed up late both nights, and he enjoyed his first professional baseball game already.
-He is lovin on his mommy these days.  Very cuddly, always wants to be in the same room as me, and gives me big kisses on my cheeks (or he is trying to eat my face but kisses are cuter).
-We are still waiting on his first tooth.  He has had all of he teething symptoms but nothing yet.
-He is starting to enjoy spending time with his cousins.  They are interacting and laughing at each other... the age gap already seems smaller.
-In some ways he is just like his brother (he can be loud, he has trouble settling to sleep/staying asleep, he loves to cling on to mommy, etc) but in other ways he is so different (must more content and smiley, huge belly laugh, no drool or spit up, not on the move nearly as much, etc).  Its fun to watch them grow up as brothers but also very different boys!


I think that is about it for now!  LOVE my little guy.

Men vs. Women: preparing to travel

Both Mike and I will be traveling for 4 day trips on our own, for me it's next week and for Mike it's in three weeks. As I prepare for my getaway, I can't help but think about how different it is for each of us to get ready to leave for a long weekend.

Here is Mike's to do list before traveling alone:

- pack
- get address for hotel
- maybe get a hair cut

Here is my to do list:
- arrange babysitter for Thursday
- arrange babysitter for Friday
- type out schedule for the boys weekends
- make sure I have enough breast milk for baby
- make sure house is stocked with groceries
- make sure laundry is done and put away (so all my boys have clean undies)
- get a pedicure
-shop for toiletries
-pack my breast pump and all accessories
- worry for 3 days that I didn't forget something
- oh yea, pack my suitcase

Sometimes I wish I had a wife to coordinate all the details for our family! But hey, at least I'm going away :)



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Sleep Training Sucks

Sleep training sucks, it's awful, I hate it, ahhhh!!

We have been in sleeping hell recently. I won't go into the specifics, who wants to hear about that, but I will say that all aspects of Patrick's sleep (and unfortunately some issues with Ryan too) have been really bad. That means we are all tired, all stressed, and I'm desperate for a change.

Our days start between 4-5 am, and Patrick wants to be up for the day, doesn't he know mommy is not a morning person. Then Ryan is up by about 6:30.

Naps, what are naps?? No one gets to nap recently. Patrick takes forever to fall asleep and then his naps only last 20-30 minutes tops. I think we have been blessed with maybe 5 naps that are longer then a half an hour in his entire lap. Even in the car or a stroller, after 30 minutes the eyes pop open and the screams immediately start. I can sometimes get a little bit more if I am holding him in my arms... Which is impossible which a three year old (thank God for GiGi).

And at the same time, Ryan has suddenly decided he doesn't really want to nap. It's been a week or two of very short naps. I'm
Scared... It might be that time where the naps start to fizzle out! I'm not ready, make it stop. I was hoping for at least a few months when both Patrick and Ryan were taking an afternoon nap! It doesn't look like that dream us going to come true. Oh man.

Okay back to the baby. As if naps where not bad enough, night time is a nightmare. He can not settle himself to sleep at night. We officially started sleep training on July 12 (because he was waking up 5-6 times every night) and he has cried hysterically at bed time every single night since then. Once he finally gets himself settled (after what can be almost an hour) he then will normally sleep through til about 4 am... But that's still not consistent.

In addition to it being hell to listen to the baby cry so hard every night, and feeling helpless about it, the crying keeps Ryan awake. So we can't get Ryan settled to bed until after Patrick finally settled. And even that takes a while, Ryan then takes almost an hour to fall asleep and gets up to pee or poop multiple times each night before he actually falls asleep. We work hard at bedtime in this house.

Anyway, I have tried it all... Sound machine, go to bed drowsy but not asleep, giving him more to eat during the day, a steady bedtime routine, letting him cry it out, not responding when he wakes up in the middle of the night, not nursing him until close to 5 am... I'm feeling helpless.

I have started praying every night, one night things will change, one day he will take a real morning nap... One day! And for the first time I am considering hiring a sleep consultant. I'm desperate!

That's it for now. End of rant 😁 wish us luck!




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Location:Sleep training... SUCKS!

Happy 6 months to Patrick

I can't believe this milestone came so fast.  I blinked and he was 6 months old... as I type this, he is closer to his first birthday than to his birth.  Thats crazy talk!

This has been a great month, just like every month with this little guy.  He is such a happy baby and he loves to take in the world around him.  It doesn't take much to make him smile or to get him to giggle.  Here are the fun facts of 6 months:

-He is still 26 1/4 in long, no growth from last month.  But he is now 16 6/16 lbs.  That puts him at about 25-50%
-Still in size 2 diapers and clothes 3-6 months.
-He is still nursing well... only breast milk still. 
-We started solid foods.  I skipped the cereals because they are really void of any true nutrients and not really a necessity.  We started with peas and then 5 days later gave him sweet potatoes.  He really liked both of them and is having fun playing with the new foods.  For now I am making all of the baby food (I just use a good old fashion blender and ice cube trays to freeze individual servings).

-Not much interest in water yet.  He will have a couple ounces occasionally in a bottle, but doesn't really like it.
-Patrick is still rolling, but not often.  He only likes to roll when he has to, not just for fun.
-Big Milestone- he can sit on his own!  He is still a little wobbly, and I always stay near by, but he is officially sitting.
-His babbles are changing, he now says "dadada" frequently.
-He can blow bubble and make raspberry sounds with this mouth.
-He makes the silliest faces with his tongue and lips, its like he is exploring with the different faces he can make.
-When he smiles really big he has a little dimple in his right cheek.
-His new hair is starting to grow in.  The infant hair is dark brown, but the new hair is lighter.  I am not sure what color hair he will have.
-His eye color is frequently changing too.   Some days they are very brown, some times hazel or greenish. 
-He has the cutest perfect little baby face!
-His skin is so smooth and soft, I love baby skin.


Now onto the only bad think... his sleep!  His sleep habits are so bad and I have been really working so hard on it. Currently a normal day is this:

-Naps-  the goal is for a 9am, noon, and 3pm nap.  But his naps are still only 30 minutes exactly.  He has a hard time falling asleep and then wakes up at exactly 30 minutes every nap, every day.  If he is sleeping in someone arms (like when we are out at the beach or something like that), he will sleep closer to an hour, maybe even 90 minutes... but thats rare and obviously I don't want to get into that habit.

-Bedtime-  I think this part is even harder.  Bedtime routine starts about 6:30pm.  He is normally asleep by 7 ish.  But then from like 7:30-midnight he wakes up all of the time randomly.  He goes from sound asleep to screaming in about 2 seconds.  I don't feed him, and I try to let him settle himself, but he really doesn't.  We normally have to go up and rub his back or do a quick rock and lay him back down. 

Then he sleeps well from midnight through 4 am, and then the craziness happens again.  I won't nurse him til after 4 or 5 am, but then he wants to be up for the day.  He occasionally doses off but only like 20-30 minutes at a time. 

So sleep is limited right now.  I am trying to have a very set schedule and routine for him and stick to it (which is nearly impossible when he has someone new watching him every day during the week), but its just not working right now.  I did start official cry it out this weekend for bedtime and nap times, so right now life sucks.  He cries for  30 minutes, 40 minutes, even and hour... its so hard to listen to.  But cry it out over night or when Ryan is taking a nap is extra hard because now everyone is the house is away. 

I am praying that this issue starts to resolve itself.  I just feel bad because he is so restless and has such a hard time settling to sleep.  I feel so bad for him :(

But other than sleep-  he is my perfect little angel and we are all loving every minute of having him in our world. 

First and Last Day of Preschool

As I was driving Ryan to his last day of preschool this morning, I caught myself daydreaming about what was going on in life in September and what's going in now... And boy things are different!

In September-

-It was a beautiful morning (actually exactly like today's weather)
- Ryan was newly potty trained but still in his crib
- I woke up with two cats sleeping by my feet.
- We were rushing out of the house because we had someone coming for a 3rd look at our house!
- We were getting excited about moving, building our new home, and a baby on the way
- Our goal was to sell by the end of October (we had very high hopes for the girl that was coming that morning). I was sure today would be the day we got an offer after 4 months on the market.
- We anticipated getting a rental for a few months before our house was ready.
- We picked the exterior/shutter color of the house and had appointments with kitchen design people.
- I was about half way through my pregnancy. We didn't know the sex but I was thinking it was a girl.
- Mike was in his 8th year at Warner Chilcott
- I had a good balance between working and being an at home mom
- It was the day of Laura's wedding rehearsal! Was getting ready for a weekend with my girlfriends.


Now here in June-

- Same gorgeous day
- Ryan woke up in his big boy bed, new room, and he even had a dry overnight pull up!
- We no longer have kitty cats cuddling with me as we sleep. They are living with a new loving family. Instead I have a sleeping 5 month old in my arms.
- My baby is here... And he is a boy haha. Oops I was wrong (I'm nursing my sweet boy as I type this)
- I was rushing around getting ready for school which is more hectic with a new baby in the mix.
- Mike left early for work since he now has a new job up in North Jersey. After getting laid off with Warner Chilcott, he started at Valiant in February.
- We are still living in our original home, we did not move.
- The house is not on the market... We will be staying here for a couple more years (no talk about babies or moving til 2016).
- I started doing hair again this week, July 7 is back to the office but we still haven't figured how it's all going to work.
- Jackie has moved to Virginia and Kelly will soon be in NC. Crazy how I didn't move but both of them did!
- Big plans tonight is for a family movie night- Lucky Duck on Disney jr.


I can't believe how much has changed (or didn't change) over the past 9.5 months. I feel like it was such a whirlwind year. I'm looking forward to making the most of the summer and hopefully a less eventful year come September!




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5 months - Patrick

Here we are again, another monthly update.  Time goes even faster with the second baby!

The facts-
Patrick is 15 lbs 9 oz
Wears size 3-6 months
Size 2 diapers


Whats going on this month:
- The beginning of this month was rough.  I don't know if Patrick was teething or had a little tummy virus, but he was having a hard time.  He started (and actually still has) super gross poopy diapers multiple times a day, the drool started pouring, low 99-100 fevers almost every day for a week or so, he was very cranky, and he had bad sleep regression.  Things seem to be getting better.  He is happier and back to sleeping better, no more fevers, but still no teeth.  Who knows what was going on.

-Night sleeping-  He totally had awful 4 month sleep regression.  He started waking much more frequently, and had a hard time falling asleep.  I tried to continue the sleep training, I didn't feed him until at least 4 am and I would try to sooth him without picking him up, but it was a few weeks of feeling like I had a new born again. 

Now things are better, he is on a pretty regular routine.  Bedtime routine starts around 6:30 and he is normally asleep by 7:00-7:15.  Then he will sleep through the night til sometime between 4-5:30am.  Then I nurse him and we both kind of dose off again.  After this wake up its kind of dicey.  Some nights he goes back to sleep, some nights he wakes up like he is ready for the day.  I never know what I"ll get.  But even if he is wide awake I'll lay him down in his crib or rock n play and let him hang out while I kind of sleep some more.

- The two struggles currently are day time naps and driving in the car.

Naps- still exactly 30 minutes every single time.  At least they are now in his crib, but always 30 minutes.  I can not wait to cross this mile stone and be on a better nap schedule.  The day is pretty routine- nap at 9am, 12pm, and 3pm... we just need them to be a little longer.

Car drives-  If I don't time it perfectly, he screams for car rides.  He is normally such a happy baby, but for some reason he gets crazy man in the car.  So two things happen.... either I time car rides right before he gets tired so I know he will fall alseep, or I prepare myself for a car ride of screaming and just deal with it.

- Its funny how different kids can be.  At this stage Ryan was log rolling all over the house all day long.  Patrick has rolled once or twice from his back to his belly, and once or twice from his belly to his back... but thats it.  He just has no interest in rolling.  And Ryan would do 360s in his crib all night long, hitting every inch of his crib... and Patrick wakes up in the exact same spot he fell asleep in.

-He is still super smiley and I get lots of good laughs when I tickle his thighs or neck.  Such a cute baby.

-For the most part he is happy, easy going, and just kind of takes in the things to go on around him.

-He is still only breastfed.  He is nursing well, so as long as I can pump well when i'm working, I will continue as long as I can.  But he is starting to show interest in food, follows and reaches for my food when I am eating, so I think we will introduce some fruits and veggies at 6 months.  We are going to skip the cereals all together.

-As of his 5 month appointment, he is no longer being vaccinated.  I am debating writing a different post about this.  I have been doing a ton of research and we are happy with this decision, but I don't want to start any debates.  We will see.  

-His new hair is growing in, its lighter than when he was born, but not blonde like his brother.  His eyes are also starting to get darker.  I am starting to think Patrick looks more and more like his cousin JJ and less like Ryan.  I can still see some similarities in their noses and mouth area, but really they are very different.

Basically he is doing really great.  Mike and I just love his sweet face and Ryan is becoming very protective of his little brother.  Life is good!

Ryan at 5 months- just for comparison (Ryan was a chunky monkey)